198 



Crcogurg of Natural 



over with nets, supported by hooped sticks, 

 so as to form a vault or arch growing nar- 

 rower and narrower to the point, where it 

 should be terminated by a tunnel net : along 

 the banks of these netted channels many 

 hedges should be made of reeds slanting to 

 the edges of the gutters, their acute angles 

 being toward the side next the pool ; and 

 the whole apparatus should also be concealed 

 from the pool by a marginal hedge of reeds, 

 behind which the operations of the fowler 

 are conducted. Provided with a number of 

 Ducks termed decoys, which are rendered 

 tame by education, and accustomed to at- 

 tend their master on being summoned by a 

 whistle, the fowler sets them to feed at the 

 mouths of the pipes. No sooner does the 

 evening commence, than the decoy rises, to 

 use the language of fowlers, and the wild 

 fowl feed during the night. Should the 

 evening be still, the noise of their wings 

 during their flight is heard at a considerable 

 distance, and produces no unpleasing sensa- 

 tion. The fowler, whenever a fit oppor- 

 tunity offers, and he sees his decoy covered 

 with fowl, walks about the pond, and ob- 

 serves into what pipe or channel the as- 

 sembled ducks may be enticed or driven 

 with the greatest facility : then, throwing 

 hemp-seed, or some similar allurement 

 which will float on the surface, at the en- 

 trance of the pipe, and along its extent, he 

 whistles to his decoy-ducks, which instantly 

 obeying the summons, approach, in expecta- 

 tion of being fed as usual ; whither also they 

 are followed by a whole flock of the wild 

 ones, unsuspicious of their meditated ruin. 

 However, their sense of smelling being ex- 

 tremely acute, they would speedily discover 

 the ambuscade, did not the fowler hold a 

 piece of burning turf to his nose, against 

 which he constantly breathes, and thereby 

 prevents the effluvia of his person from af- 

 fecting their very exquisite senses. The 

 Wild Ducks, therefore, in following the de- 

 coy ones, are conducted by them into the 

 broad mouth of the pipe, without the small- 

 est suspicion of danger, the fowler being 

 still hid behind one of the hedges : never- 

 theless, when they have proceeded a short 

 way up the pipe, and perceive it to grow 

 narrower, they begin to apprehend danger 

 and endeavour to return ; but in this attempt 

 they are prevented by the fowler, who now 

 makes his appearance at the broad end be- 

 low. Thus surprised, intimidated, and utter- 

 ly unable to rise because of the surrounding 

 net, the only remaining way of escape seems 

 to be through the narrow-funnelled net at 

 the bottom ; into which they fly, and are 

 instantly taken. 



Pennant had an account sent him of the 

 produce of ten decoys, which, in one winter, 

 amounted to thirty-two thousand two hun- 

 dred. In Picardy in France, also, vast 

 numbers are taken in decoys, and sold in 

 the Paris market, where, in one season, 

 30,000 francs have been paid for the produce 

 of the small lake of St. Lambert. Wilson, 

 the celebrated American ornithologist, enu- 

 merates several simple and effective con- 

 trivances made use of in America for the 

 capture of these wary birds. In some ponds j 



frequented by them, five or six wooden 

 figures, cut and painted to represent ducks, 

 and sunk by pieces of lead nailed to the 

 bottom, so as to float at the usual depth on 

 the surface, are anchored in a favourable 

 position to be raked from a concealment of 

 brush, &c. These attract the passing flock, 

 which alight, and thus expose themselves to 

 certain destruction. In winter, when de- 

 tached pieces of ice are occasionally floating 

 in the river, some of the sportsmen on the 

 Delaware paint their boats white, and lay- 

 ing themselves flat in the bottom, direct 

 them almost imperceptibly near a flock, be- 

 fore the ducks have distinguished them from 

 a floating piece of ice. On land, another 

 stratagem is sometimes practised with great 

 success. A tight hogshead is sunk in the 

 marsh, or mud, near the place where ducks 

 are accustomed to feed at low water, and 

 where, otherwise, there is no shelter ; the 

 edges and top are carefully concealed with 

 tufts of long coarse grass, and reeds or sedge. 

 From within this the sportsman watches his 

 collected prey, and usually commits great 

 havoc. In China, the sportsman covers his 

 head with a calabash, pierced with eye- 

 holes, and, thus equipped, wades into the 

 water, keeping only his head above the sur- 

 face, and, on arriving amidst a flock, seizes 

 them by the legs, fastens them to his girdle, 

 and takes as many as he wishes, without 

 disturbing the rest. 



The TAME DUCK. Some individuals in 

 a domestic state appear in nearly the same 

 plumage as the wild ones ; others vary 

 greatly from them, as well as from each 

 other, and are marked with nearly every 

 colour ; but all the males or drakes still re- 

 tain the curled feathers of the tail. The 

 Tame Duck is, however, of a more dull and 

 less elegant form and appearance than the 

 Wild, domestication having deprived it of 

 its lofty gait, long tapering neck, and spright- 

 ly eyes. Tame Ducks are reared with more 

 facility than perhaps most other domestic 

 animals. The very instincts of the young 

 direct them to their favourite element ; and 

 though they are sometimes hatched and 

 conducted by hens, they seem to contemn 

 the admonitions of their leaders ; a circum- 

 stance which seems to indicate that all birds 

 receive their manners rather from nature 

 than education, and attain their various per- 

 fections without the help of any other guide. 



There appears to be good reason for placing 

 duck-eggs under a hen. The Duck gene- 

 rally proves a heedless, inattentive mother ; 

 for she frequently leaves her eggs till they 

 become corrupted, and even seems to forget 

 that she is entrusted with the charge : she 

 is also equally regardless of her young brood 

 when they are produced ; for she only leads 

 them forth to the water, and then seems to 

 think she has made sufficient provision for 

 them. The hen, on the contrary, who is an 

 indefatigable nurse, broods with unwearied 

 assiduity, and generally hatches a duckling 

 from every egg with which she id entrusted : 

 she does not, indeed, conduct her young to 

 the water, because that is contrary to her 

 nature ) but she always keeps a watchful 



